[Environmental] Falling Water

Hmpf has posted recently. I don't believe she's completely abandoned us.

Hmpf has posted recently. I don't believe she's completely abandoned us.

I don't think 3 years ago is that "recently". Or are you talking about some other posts than on this forum?

For those still wondering, I contacted Hmpf a few months ago by email. She said she's been very busy with work, and while she's made a small amount of progress on Falling Water, she's having trouble with writer's block and finding time for it among other projects. She gave no indication of when the project might be completed or even return to a state of steady development, but she hasn't given up on it as of October.

*whispers*

It's alive. (I think.)

Four new screens, first in ten years.

A To Do list for myself:

• check/change ambiance for all existing 544 screens ---> Update: DONE
• improve confusing/annoying map areas ---> Update, August 3, 2023: Improved internal logic of the most annoying (or maybe second most annoying?) map area.
• improve aesthetically sub-par map areas ---> Update: ongoing
• find out what that one mysterious powerup does and which key on the keyboard activates it, and whether to use it in the level ---> Update: Partly done. (Don't know whether to use it yet.)
• figure out where to put remaining powerups and keys and locks ---> Update, August 4, 2023: definitively placed one key & lock
• figure out the background story; discard/replace what doesn't work
• write dialogue
• build top layer of world (50ish screens?)
• integrate warps, shifts ---> Update: relearned how to do warps/shifts. Started adding them into the level. Update, August 4, 2023: Half of the warps/shifts are done.
• integrate dialogue
• fill in "sky"
• music??? (I do own a keyboard now. Maybe I can do it myself?)
• Update: new To Do: fill in remaining gaps in map

Optional, ongoing:

• add more "secrets"

Here for this.

It's completely unexpected and I'm really really glad to see you are still working on this level.
By the way, which one is that one mysterious power up ?

It's completely unexpected and I'm really really glad to see you are still working on this level.

Haha, more like "again", really. But, yeah.

It's been bugging me all these years, how - relatively speaking - close to completion I'd left it. The bulk of the world is built, really. I just got bogged down in the conceptual worldbuilding, towards the end, and I think I'm just going to give up on that and cobble something together that makes a modicum of sense and call it a day. The main thing about this level was always going to be the exploration, after all, not really "the story". And: it's a "first" level, grown from the joy of pure play, going wild with the tilesets like a kid in a candystore. It's okay, I think, if it has some rough edges and maybe doesn't entirely make sense everywhere.

Now that I know that the community is nowhere near dead, I can always aim to make another, better level after this! (I've already got an idea...)

By the way, which one is that one mysterious power up ?

Err. The one that looks like a box with a rounded top, with a circle on the front and a sort of bar across the top? I'm pretty sure I wasn't intending to use it in the level, back then, so it's probably not something that would make sense in Falling Water. Not that FW is even about collecting powerups at all, except for the first part that I released back then. (It's gonna be such an unbalanced level, when I release the complete version... collecting powerups in the first ten minutes, and then... (almost) nothing like that again, for the rest of the entire time. Whoops.

That's detector. It makes Juni glow red in presence of enemies other than robots and it makes her glow light green or red when combined with objects 26 - 28 from bank 0 so it can be used to indicate secret passages and similar stuff. It's usually not a big deal if player misses it but imo it's neat to put it into some "semi secret" area of non linear level with a lot of exploring.

I think the little inconsistencies and imperfections are big part of what makes each KS level unique so I wouldn't worry about them too much. Some levels are mole polished and that's great and some are more about the joy of creating your own world and that's also great. Collecting the powerups in the first part of the level really makes sense in the context of this story for me: Juni prepares for expedition, collects the powerups and then she just goes until she's there. It's weird there are not more levels like this actually.

That's detector. It makes Juni glow red in presence of enemies other than robots and it makes her glow light green or red when combined with objects 26 - 28 from bank 0 so it can be used to indicate secret passages and similar stuff. It's usually not a big deal if player misses it but imo it's neat to put it into some "semi secret" area of non linear level with a lot of exploring.

I was planning to use the eye  powerup for some secret passages. But I'm guessing that the detector does something slightly different?

I think the little inconsistencies and imperfections are big part of what makes each KS level unique so I wouldn't worry about them too much. Some levels are mole polished and that's great and some are more about the joy of creating your own world and that's also great. Collecting the powerups in the first part of the level really makes sense in the context of this story for me: Juni prepares for expedition, collects the powerups and then she just goes until she's there. It's weird there are not more levels like this actually.

Heh. Thanks.

And yeah, agreed. Polished is great but kinda wild and messy can be great, too. (Not that I think my level is particularly messy, really. It's probably on the "polished" end of the "large disorganised first-timer level" spectrum. But there are definitely some rough bits. I apologise for the Labyrinth House, I really do. )

This thread always cheers me up Glad to hear you're still working on this!

Almost twelve years later, and I still feel the same way.
Despite not being released, the screenshots alone on this level inspired me greatly and influenced my level design a lot. Nice to see you here again 

I remember being very excited about this a very long time ago. Great to see you back.

I was planning to use the eye  powerup for some secret passages. But I'm guessing that the detector does something slightly different?

The difference in these two in indicating secret passages is shown nicely in the Bulbapuck's Emma level.


Yeah, it's more whimsical than unpolished. I actually liked the labyrith house for the unusual combination of tilesets.

Quote from: Hmpf on July 25, 2023, 23:16:00

I was planning to use the eye  powerup for some secret passages. But I'm guessing that the detector does something slightly different?

Yeah, it's more whimsical than unpolished. I actually liked the labyrith house for the unusual combination of tilesets.

That... tells me you haven't found the Labyrinth House, maybe. ;-) (Because that didn't feature a tileset combination at all, just some custom objects, used unwisely. It annoyed the heck out of me when I played it last weekend.) What you probably mean is the Upper Lower City (weird medieval skyscrapers with cast iron scaffolding), which I do really love although the gameplay there could be better, too (but for the limitations of KS when it comes to making too many closely adjacent surfaces walk- and climbable...)

And, @everyone: Wheeeeee it's so great you're all still here, omg!

I just built a new screen! I've decided to fill in the few gaps left in the map after all, even though it's not strictly necessary as it's already all one contiguous space. I hope you guys like trees and cats, because most every "secret" room or mildly out of the way cavern gets filled with either or both! And yes, you can pet the cat. Any cat. Every cat. If I can learn how to shift and warp again.

I'm also doing improvements on various slightly dissatisfying screens every day. (Really, I'm procrastinating from relearning the warping and shifting, and just generally from all the more tedious bits. But I will do those, too. I promise.)

I'm not sure how to post images here anymore...

ETA: Ok, that seems to have worked. So, that's the map, currently The first part that I published years ago is roughly the upper righthand... fifth or so of it, I think. The rest is "new". This is mostly actual walkable/climbable terrain, with just one thin layer of sky across the top so far. I'll fill in the gaps, especially on the lefthand side, and I'll probably add one additional large area to the far left, to balance it out more - the right half of the world is currently a bit "bulkier" than the left, and it's supposed to be symmetrical, more or less. Then there's a long, flattish "continent" to build in the air above it all, and that's it. After that, just sky to fill in.

And then, all the tedious stuff. ;-) But really, I should aim to do most of the tedious warping and shifting in between building the new areas, because otherwise I'll just get bogged down again. Best to keep some of the fun building stuff for later, to reward myself for the "tedious" stuff!

ETA2: I actually have no idea how many screens it has, at the moment. I may have miscounted, years ago. Counting it again definitely qualifies as "tedious", though, and also not particularly essential. I'd also have to remove all the "double" (warp) screens etc. first, because those are currently all just mixed up with the rest of it. Probably would have been wiser to put them all somewhere to the side, tbh. Oh well.